Update from BORSC

Hello All!

Thank you for all of your input during BORSC's PR week a few weeks ago. Our display in the hallway near Rolvaag generated a wide-ranging and thoughtful response from many voices on campus. BORSC spent the bulk of our weekly meeting after PR week looking over and discussing comments that came up on the white board.

Using your comments, BORSC has begun to work on our report for the February Report to the Board of Regents. The topic we have chosen is alcohol use and the alcohol policy at St. Olaf. Our report will have three areas of focus: 1) a general overview of drinking on campus including statistics and opinions of students, 2) issues relating to health/safety and alcohol, and 3) how off-campus housing affects the culture of drinking on campus.

The Board of Regents are concerned with the long-range planning of the college, and we hope that this report will both provide an insight into an area of campus life Regents know little about. Additionally, we will be putting forward a recommendation for the Board (which will be reviewed by Senate) regarding this issue.

Feel free to contact myself (hlebain) or your class representatives to share your thoughts and opinions. Below I have noted which BORSC members are working on each committee.

Overview of alcohol use: Joe Paille '11, Allie Pyan '09, David Segar '12, Sam Sickbert '11

Health/Safety: Tom Fewer '11, Scott Krepsky '12, Paul Peterson '09, Erin Seybold '11

Off-campus/community relations: Kayla Benson '10, Marcus Mittelsteadt '10, Kirby Norris '10

A Note from Board of Regents Student Observer, David Hlebain

The Board of Regents Student Committee (BORSC) meets with the St. Olaf Board of Regents three times annually when the Regents are on campus for their board meetings. The Regents serve as the governing body of St. Olaf, and therefore, this interaction between BORSC and the Board of Regents allows students to have a voice in the long range decision making process of the college.

BORSC has been diligently working on reports for the upcoming Board Meeting. We plan to present a report representing the culmination of a project which we began last spring entitled The St. Olaf Feel Project. The aim of this project is to identify key aspects of St. Olaf student culture. With various changes occurring recently at St. Olaf (ie. the construction of Regents Hall, an incoming class in which the majority is not from Minnesota for the first time, a discussion involving increasing or decreasing the size of St. Olaf’s enrollment), we hope this project can illuminate what it is that makes St. Olaf unique and how we can maintain that “feel” we all talk about amidst various forms of change.

In addition, we will offer a related report weighing in on the future enrollment size of St. Olaf and its impact on student life. The Board plans to discuss the future size of the college (not next year or the year after, but perhaps ten years down the road). Should St. Olaf remain a college of 3,000 students? Would 2,800 or even 3,200 be more ideal? BORSC is working to construct a conversation highlighting how a change in enrollment will affect student life on The Hill. We are choosing to focus specifically on academic life, residence life, student opportunities, and the student profile of a potentially larger or smaller St. Olaf.

While BORSC technically has no official say in this final process, we are a body that can influence and provide perspective to decisions made by the Board. Please feel free to contact myself or one of your class representatives if you would like to share an opinion with BORSC.

Stay tuned for follow up information to be reported after the October 3 meeting with the Board of Regents.

Blog Post 1

This is the first post (a test, rather) of the Board of Regents Student Committee blog. Check back soon for more substantive posts.